Last Resort: "Skeleton Crew"Review

Well, that was pretty damn awesome. I’ve seen a fair share of mixed reactions to Last Resort since its widely praised pilot, with some feeling the show hadn’t been living up to its potential. Personally, I’ve liked every episode, even with some quibbles here and there – but I think most will agree that “Skeleton Crew” is the best episode since the pilot and shows that this series is capable of delivering some very impressive thrills.

While the later scenes provided some true adrenaline (and one big “Holy s***!” moment I’ll get to later), the lead up to it was great as well. Curry, Shepard and the previously unseen Amanda Straugh (April Grace – whose many credits included her time on Lost as the Other known as Ms. Klugh) coming to the island was a fun turn of events – bringing together the two worlds the series has established.

Much of this episode consisted of a very cool chess match between Marcus and Curry, or as Marcus described him, “An extremely cunning son of a bitch.” Not that we didn’t already hate him, but wow… Telling Marcus’ men they’ll hang to their face? And he sure could push the right buttons, causing Marcus to quickly break his own “don’t get emotional” advise. Which is great, because again, every good show needs a good, tangible villain – and while I doubt Curry is the one behind all of this, for now, he’s a suitably despicable face for whoever is.

Grace and James’ mission to replace that battery at first was overshadowed by what was going on between Marcus and Curry, but got continually more tense itself. It was good to see them bringing up the all-too convenient timing of this battery needing to be replaced – and while I don’t recall them ever out and out saying it was set up by Curry’s men, the way things played out certainly seemed to indicate it’s a strong possibility.

While I have been fine with the off-island storylines, this week it was hard not to feel like they could have been put on pause, given how involving everything going on with Curry and the sub was. And it felt a little silly to have Kylie need to again see Christine’s outburst on the news to push her to actually go find her. But their actual first scene together was very good – especially in regards to Christine, as we learned she was not buying what Paul was selling and completely had his number. It’s a relief to know we’re not going down the (familiar) road of having him give her doubts while being pseudo-flirty with her. And the fact that we learned it was his specific lie about Sam and Marcus making a deal to defect to China that told her not to trust him was great, as she explained to Kylie that her husband put his country first over everything - even her.

And then of course, everything went freaking crazy on the island. Sam accepting the “Everyone walks but Marcus” deal was a powerful moment – with Andre Braugher’s tearful eyes completely selling how this impacted him, even when he basically went on to say he let things play out this way to do what was right for everyone. But that offer being snatched away and Curry’s hesitation-free “Kill her. Kill her now” command (which at that point, pretty much referred simultaneously to the Colorado and to Grace, commanding it) was a highly notable, exciting moment in and of itself…

And that was before Admiral Shepard pulled out a gun and shot and killed Straugh and wounded Curry! Which, let’s face it… was straight up awesome. Curry, you really shouldn’t give the kill order on someone in front of their father…

Before that all went down, and Shepard got yanked away to a fate we should fear, we also got much more of an update on what’s going on in the world after the U.S. nuked Pakistan – something I’ve seen others complain about. While it hasn’t been as big a concern for me (it needs to be brought up, of course, but the show is centering on the Colorado and that’s simply the way it is), it was good to get some notable information here, including learning that the U.S. was on the verge of a U.N. condemnation and the president possibly being forced out of office.

This episode really delivered in a ton of ways. Amongst the most tense situation since the pilot, there was some great humor as well – from Prosser and Sophie’s back and forth (“Why is there a French girl on my boat?”) to several very amusing retorts from Chaplin to Curry (“Are we boring you captain?” “Yes, but I’m listening.”).

The “Did James die?” scenario was probably not needed – given that he was off-camera when he would have run out of air, it felt 95% certain, in TV rules, that he was alive – but even that managed to have some nice emotional moments as they found him sending Morse code. Only his reunion with Tani felt a bit flat, because her character still feels pretty extraneous and not as well integrated into the story.

Grace's trial by fire meanwhile was effective, as she managed to rise to the occasion, save the sub (and everyone on board) and show she could win a standoff, Marcus "Yeah, I will totally shoot these nukes at America" Chaplin style - clearly gaining new respect from the crew in the process. And maybe, just maybe, from Prosser a bit too...

Overall, this was excellent television. With a network TV show and as many as 22-episodes in a season (Last Resort is still waiting for a full season pickup, though additional scripts have been ordered), I don't think Last Resort can or should try to have this type of scenario every week - but if they can continue to have every few episodes be this noteworthy, while keeping the ongoing stories compelling, this show really can be something special.

Eric Goldman is Executive Editor of IGN TV. You can follow him on on Twitter at @EricIGN and IGN at ericgoldman-ign.

Amazing

The best episode since the pilot, this week's Last Resort was tense, exciting and funny - with some great payoffs.